


Two Cups of Flour

by MercuryLanding



Category: The Mummy Series
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-18
Updated: 2020-12-18
Packaged: 2021-03-11 00:29:15
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,433
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28146132
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MercuryLanding/pseuds/MercuryLanding
Summary: Can Evelyn and Rick manage having a baby with their sometimes dangerous lifestyle?
Relationships: Evy Carnahan O'Connell/Rick O'Connell
Comments: 5
Kudos: 19
Collections: Yuletide 2020





	Two Cups of Flour

**Author's Note:**

  * For [noblealice](https://archiveofourown.org/users/noblealice/gifts).



“C’mon, I think it’s a great idea. Just think about all the fun we’d have with it.”

The box from Edfu had been sitting on her desk untouched for two days during her mother’s stay. Oh how she yearned to sneak off into the study for a quick peek at the hieroglyphics engravings the entire time. Now that her mother’s flown back to Paris, it was all hers.

“Not going to happen, darling.” Evelyn slipped on her reading glasses to examine the outside. Judging by the characters, the artifact must be at least two thousand years old. “Amazing.”

There was some shuffling of feet across the rug before Rick stood before her desk. He crouched down to her eye level with a lop-sided grin on his face. “I think so too. You know, I never thought I’d agree on anything with you mother. But the woman’s right this time.” One of his arms came to rest on the desk. “What could go wrong?”

“Everything.”

“C’mon, Evelyn, don’t you think it’d be awesome to have a little human that’s one half you and one half me?”

“You seem to have forgotten what we do for a living.”

“What? You’re a librarian, and I…I fix things around the house.”

“That’s only true for seven months out of the year. Plus,” she pointed to the light fixture tucked away under a chair in the corner, “You attempt to fix the things that you played a major role in breaking to begin with. Unsuccessfully, if I might add.”

“Semantics.” Rick dismissed the priceless, ancient piece that was now collecting dust in the corner of their study with a casual wave.

“Well, darling, the answer is ‘no.’ We are not having a baby.” She returned her attention to the box. How could they even take care of a baby with the kind of crazy lives they lead?

“Don’t I get to have a say in this?”

“You did, and my answer is still no.”

“Evie, sweetie, listen to me please. This is the one thing I’ll ever ask of you.”

“Are you…pouting?”

“Yes, yes I am.”

She shook her head in disbelief. “I’m not saying yes, but I am saying that I’ll give you the chance to convince me otherwise after our next expedition. There might be more to this box than meets the eye.”

—

A week later, they had their suitcases packed and left instructions for the house keeper to let Bruno out of the house three times a day. Jonathan had telephoned her late last night to inform her that he would not be participating in their latest expedition because he was in the midst of romancing an Armenian woman by the name of Araksya.

_I have a good feeling about her, Evie. She’s a teacher. Nice family. And most importantly, no indication of being the reincarnation of an Egyptian mistress looking to exact revenge on anyone._

That was a start. Jonathan didn’t have a great track record of picking sane, living girlfriends.

“Alright, ready to go?” Her husband emerged from the kitchen with a piece of cloth wrapped around his upper body. He patted the little square lump projecting out from his torso and beamed.

Evelyn studied the small cloud of dust that rose in the air at his action and sighed. “You can’t be serious.”

“Oh, I am. We’re going to take her on our expedition.”

“And do what? Bake some cookies while we’re deep in the ancient tomb of Anqusawe?”

As if horrified by her suggestion, Rick recoiled a few steps and placed both his hands on the side of the flour pack to shield it from Evelyn and her wickedness.

“She can hear you.”

And sure enough, when she looked, Evelyn spotted a tiny ear drawn on each side of the flour pack. He even adorned it with stud earrings.

“Really? Stud earrings on a baby?”

“It’s stately.”

“How old is it supposed to be?”

“Her name is Rose, and she’s five months old.” Rick pointed at the diaper the flour pack was wearing and made a face like it needed changing. And Evelyn would have shot down the preposterous idea had it not been for how adorable Rick looked with his makeshift baby sling and the homage to her late grandmother - Rose Carnahan.

“Fine, but if she loses any more than two cups of flour, the matter is settled.”

“Deal.”

They shook on it before leaving the house that day.

—

By the time they arrived in Edfu, flour baby Rose’s diaper had to be changed twice. They took turns on the plane because Rick insisted that Evelyn had to play her part. That meant actually going to the lavatory with a diaper and baby wipes. When she returned, their seat neighbor who’d woken up from her nap by then, leaned over to coo at their baby, only to be scandalized by the sight of a flour pack with studd earrings.

 _“Isn’t she precious?”_ She remembered Rick saying. The neighbor did not look at them for the remainder of the trip.

“Hun, can you carry Rose while I go retrieve our bags?”

“Sure.”

And, just like that, Rick was handing over flour baby Rose to her in the middle of the airport, diaper and all. Passerby stared at them. Some laughed. Others pointed. But none of that seemed to have fazed Rick and his endless capacity to play the part of a doting father. Intuitively, Evelyn leaned in and placed a gentle kiss on his cheek. “Thank you.”

He smiled at her and said, “You get to rock her to sleep later.”

At the exact same moment, a woman came on the intercom to announce their baggage carousal number.

“That’s us.” Rick winked at Evelyn before departing for carousel 8, and she couldn’t resist smiling at her husband’s back as she watched him disappear into the crowd of people. Somewhere along the trip, Evelyn had developed the habit of stroking the flour pack’s head…or top. As she returned to the habit again while standing there, Evelyn wondered if a real baby Rose would have a lot of hair because flour baby Rose was a little baldie. Either way, Evelyn decided that Rose would be a cute baby.

—  
They arrived at their camp with the help of their guide, Amal, who seemed puzzled by Rick’s insistence that he drive slowly on account of flour baby Rose. Their first night by the fire also ended fairly early because baby flour Rose needed to sleep and couldn’t be left alone in the tent by herself. For her part, Evelyn was not too unhappy about the prospect of turning in early. By midnight, there would have been less discussion about Egyptian artifacts and more partaking in spirits and booze.

“That was quite a day, wasn’t it? You did so well.” Rick spoke to flour baby Rose in a sickly sweet voice that was unmistakably baby talk. Evelyn wondered if that was some kind of rite of passage for every parent or only the tender-hearted ones like Rick.

“She’s quite the calm baby. Though I’m afraid she almost gave that poor lady on the plane a heart attack.”

“No, Rose would never do that, right baby? You’re a good girl.” He pulled the cover over flour baby Rose as if tucking her in and wished her a goodnight. Much to her own surprise, Evelyn leaned over to place a gentle kiss on flour baby Rose’s would be forehead.

“You _love_ her,” Rick teased.

“Perhaps. After all, she’s the healthier whole wheat kind.”

“So about that baby—”

“We’ll talk about it at the end of our trip, darling.” Smiling, she rolled onto her side, so not to face the campfire light outside their tent. Seconds later, a strong arm slipped around her waist and pulled her close.

—  
The next morning, the workers were given instructions to start excavating the site. Rick had a few close calls with flour baby Rose around the hand tools being wielded in the area, but they somehow managed to emerge intact with all limbs and ounces of flour accounted for.

The next two weeks followed the same routine of waking and digging for them with the exception of one sand surfing lesson that Rick took flour baby Rose on. Evelyn wondered if having a baby was that easy or if Rick was just that good at being a father. Despite their earlier conversation, she really hoped it was the latter.

_“We found something! We found something!”_

Rick stopped rocking flour baby Rose and looked at her.

“Let’s hope for no evil spirits this time.”

“Always.”

—  
As they stood at what was supposedly the entrance to the tomb, Evelyn counted their lucky stars that the excavation only took two weeks. Oftentimes, expeditions that ran for months left them empty handed with really bad tans.

“You sure you want to bring her along?” Evelyn pointed at flour baby Rose. They really do need to put a bag or jacket around her. The desert’s turned her packaging into a completely different color.

“Of course, we can’t keep her back in the tent. Who knows what might happen to her.”

Evelyn had seen enough bizarre things in the desert to actually agree with her husband this time.

“Here, I think this is the path," Rick said as he took the lead.

Cobwebs obstructed their vision along the way, but that was only a minor issue when she remembered the community of scorpions they encountered on their last expedition. That was—

“What the hell-”

Rick’s voice ahead registered before the reverberations underneath her did.

“The ground’s cracking!” She saw him turn around, but the ground split faster than he was able to run. And suddenly Evelyn was staring at a nine feet gap between herself and Rick.

“Can you make it?”

Rick took a few paces backwards as if to ready for the leap before he walked back to the edge.

“You gotta take Rose!”

“What?”

“I have to save our daughter first!” He began to release Rose from her sling.

“What in the world are you doing?”

“I can’t make this jump with our daughter still attached to me. That's too dangerous. Catch!”

“No!”

“Why?!”

“Okay, fine!” She readied herself for the pack of flour coming her way. This was ridiculous.

“Here goes everything!”

With a two armed throw, Rick launched flour baby Rose into the air. And God help her, Evelyn struggled to make out the form of a filthy flour sack in a dark tunnel. But Evelyn knew she’d caught her when she felt something hit her square in the chest.

“Here I come!”

She watched Rick disappear and emerge from the dark tunnel with a run. Carefully, she set flour baby Rose down.

“AHHHH!”

Evelyn leapt for Rick’s arm as he barely made it across.

“I’m starting to think that I have as many lives as a cat when you’re around.” Somehow, her husband still found the ability to make a joke as he dangled precariously off a cliff in the ancient tomb of Anqusawe.

“You make terrible jokes at the worst times,” she said as she pulled him up.

—

They retreated back to their camp following the incident of the splitting ground. Evelyn had to inform the crew that the expedition would be halted for the time being. They simply didn’t have enough people and tools to assess the situation inside the tunnel.

“No one was injured, thankfully. I’m glad that I can see my son again,” Amal professed while staring at the wallet size photo he’d retrieve from his bag every night since the start of their expedition. Tonight, Evelyn noticed that it was a picture of a little boy. Biting back a surprising wave of emotion, she addressed the crew for the final time tonight before retreating back to her tent with Rick and flour baby Rose.

“That was scary.”

“Yes, yes it was.” She sat to remove her shoes, consciously avoiding eye contact with Rick now that they were alone. Evelyn didn’t know what to make of her husband putting a pack of flour’s safety ahead of his. It was foolish and silly.

“Evelyn, I know you’re mad at me, but I can explain.”

Suddenly, a strong gust of wind blew through their tent, upending it from the ground and scattering their belongings across the desert.

“Damn.” Evelyn had been in the desert enough times to know what an incoming sandstorm felt like. And this, this was not some precursor to a sandstorm miles away. This was something ancient. Something spiritual. 

“Really? After what we’d been through today?!” Rick seemed to have read her mind as he yelled into the open night. In his arms was flour baby Rose wrapped in her blanket.

“Take her and get in the car.”

“What about you? Where are you going?”

“I have to find Amal. He has a son waiting for him at home.”

Rick handed flour baby Rose over to her for the second time today, pleading with Evelyn to keep her safe. And it was only then that it _finally_ clicked for Evelyn.

“Come back safely to us.” She kissed him roughly and carried flour baby Rose across the desert, battling debris and what felt like all the sand in the desert. By some miracle, they make it to the car, but a feeling of panic immediately seized her once they were inside.

“No. No. No.” Flour spilled out of flour baby Rose and onto the seat.

Thump.

Instinctively, she pulled flour baby Rose into her arms, shielding her from whatever evil it was outside their car. The door flew open and two sand drenched bodies flung themselves inside.

“That…was wild!”

“Step on the gas, Evie!”

She did as told, immediately relieved at the sight of her husband, in all his sandiness glory, and a dazed Amal who was hacking up mouthfuls of sand. Evelyn’s foot never left the accelerator as they drove away from the evil grasps of the angry spirit.

“What…happened to Rose?” Rick’s voice was small, almost broken.

“She…had a minor accident with the gear shift.”

Rick looked at the flour dusting the seat and frowned. “I hope that’s not two cups of flour.”

“No, I don’t think so. We can patch her up with a band-aid. Kids get hurt sometimes. It’s not the end of the world.”

At that, Rick leaned over and hugged Amal like he had just found the long lost tomb of Anqusawe. Amal, for his part, was still confused by this couple and their flour baby Rose.


End file.
